Ireland and Cuba have a shared history spanning more than three centuries. The largest wave of Irish emigration prior to the Great Hunger in the mid-nineteenth century was to Spain in the 1700s. Many joined the Spanish army, and were posted to Cuba, where they served at high levels of government and in senior military positions. Irish laborers also played an integral role in building Cuba’s first railroads in the 1830s. And did you know there were significant interactions between the Irish and Cubans in nineteenth century New York? This talk will uncover the links between Father Felix Varela, Eamon de Valera, Tammany Hall, and Dynamite Johnny O'Brien

John McAuliff has a sixty year history in the US civil rights and peace movements and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru.  His 19th century predominantly Irish origins include counties Kerry and Waterford.  While living in Philadelphia in the 1970s and 1980s, he was President of the Ceili Group and a member of the board of the Irish Center / Commodore Barry Club.  As a Contributor to Philadelphia's monthly Irish Edition, he covered Sinn Fein and SDLP election campaigns in 1982-83 in Northern Ireland.  After successfully working for normalization of US relations with Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos from 1975 to 1995, he undertook a similar effort with Cuba.   During regular visits he learned of a rich stream of Irish and Irish-American involvement in Cuba's history, with New York City as a focal point.  He also found a cultural link, organizing four performance tours by the late Mick Moloney and the Green Fields of America in cooperation with the Embassy of Ireland (based in Mexico).  Among their Cuban collaborators were descendants of immigrants from Asturia and Galecia, Spanish provinces with strong Celtic traditions.